98 Cf Californium
Actinoid, mass: 251 u, no stable and no natural isotopes.Click image to magnify. This is only an illustration, not californium itself. The strong α and neutron emitter produces a considerable heat. Californium emerges in tiny amounts rather randomly from plutonium via the elements between these two. With Californium, it is bothered to laboriously extract it, because for 252Cf, which has a a half-life of 2.6 years, there really are reasonable applications. About 3% of this isotope spontaneously fissions into large chunks and hot neutrons. Therefore it is used as a strong neutron source, for example in detectors for metal fatigue and in medicine for very intense irradiation. The enrichment of californium 252 is very expensive, each year only about 0.1 grams are made. When used, strict safety regulations have to be complied, although in each case only some micrograms of it are involved. The isotope 251Cf has a half-life of 900 years, but mercifully isn't used so far, because of its extreme rarity and price. With a few kilograms of this, very nasty atomic weapons could be build. Most californium decays to curium.
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Page last changed on March 10. 2011
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